Baba says, “When you become firm yogis, you will become worthy.“

The very first blessing I receive from the Father when I am born to Him is “Become a yogi, become pure“. This is the aim of this Brahmin life; it is how I become master of the world. There is knowledge I receive from the Father- He comes and reminds me of who I am, who He is and the beginning, middle and end of my story. I learn that I am a pure, elevated soul. I learn that I am His child. I receive identity and belonging. I then learn how I was once the master of the whole world, full of peace, joy and happiness. There was no name or trace of sorrow anywhere in the land. I learn how and to whom I lost everything I had and became bankrupt, that is, full of sorrow, despair, hopelessness. How I lost all my dignity and honor and started begging for a little respect, for a little love, for a little peace of mind. I was begging for all that was mine. Then, He tells me something equally if not even more important. He tells me that I can reclaim all that I have lost and how to go about it. In other words, knowledge is the compass that tells me wrong from right, true from false, good from bad and shows me the right path. It’s critical information, it’s foundational.

However, information by itself changes nothing. I have to actually apply the information into my life for it to bring change. Then, and only then, does knowledge become power. Then, knowledge is light and might. In order to be able to apply God’s knowledge into my life, I need power or strength and that only comes from experiencing His love. The knowledge He gives me requires me to go against the tide. I had been thinking, speaking, doing things all wrong under the influence of Ravan, now, I have to do everything the opposite way. When someone insults me, rather than insult them back or even think negative thoughts for them, I have to maintain my feelings of love and respect toward them. Rather than demand respect from people, God asks me to give everyone respect, no matter what they are like. If someone wrongs me, I get to forgive them. Rather than push others down, I get to uplift them. When I make a mistake, rather than stay down, feel guilty and condemned, I get to learn from the mistake and move on. I get to stay happy and enjoy my life, no matter what might be going on, whatever the circumstances I’m in or the situation I am facing.

So I have all this great knowledge of how to be, what to do and not do but to be able to forgive someone who betrays me, to be able to show mercy to myself when I mess up, to be able to reclaim my honor requires courage and a strength that can only come when I develop deep faith that I belong to God, that He loves me more than life itself, that He knows my journey, that He accepts me. It comes from churning His knowledge constantly like a cow chews cud and extracting the juices and making it part of my blood. Then, when that situation comes I will actually be able to use the knowledge of drama accurately and emerge victorious. To develop faith, I need to develop a strong bond with God, to do life with Him, experience His nature. This is yoga. To churn knowledge and experience each point is yoga. To remain in the awareness of all that I have attained from God, the awareness of all our experiences together is yoga. He tells me that every one of His praise is also mine. To remain in the awareness of any of the endless praises is to reclaim my self-respect. This is yoga.

Awareness brings power (smriti se samarti). To remain aware implies that my thoughts, words, feelings, attitude, vision, behavior will all be according to my awareness, according to who I believe I am, according to Whose I believe I am, according to which clan/family I think I belong to, according to what I believe I am being groomed to be, what my destiny is. For half a cycle, I had the wrong awareness and therefore, everything was wrong. That too is yoga but it was based on incorrect knowledge that Ravan gave me of who I am, whose I am and the purpose of life. Now, I have the right information and so my awareness is also right. The more I remain an embodiment of awareness, the purer my mind, intellect and sanskars become. I more I remain in loving remembrance of the Father, of the one Beloved, of the true Friend, the more I accept myself and others and find the power to change the self and thereby, the world.

“There are many who simply sweeten their mouths by saying “Baba, Baba” but only those who follow His directions are called worthy children.“, explains Baba. “The Father simply says: Remember Me and your inheritance. That’s it! The more you stay in remembrance, the purer you will become. Those who stay in remembrance a great deal will go to the new world first. You also have to make others similar to yourselves.” There are many, Baba says, who because they give good lectures, believe that they are knowledgeable souls. The Father says, “that may well be true, but they lack yoga; Without yoga, your sins cannot be absolved and you would be unable to imbibe anything. You might well be enlightened souls and keen to explain the knowledge, but explaining to others without remaining in yoga is of no use at all. Without yoga, you become body conscious and then cause distress to someone or other.“

If there isn’t yoga, time is wasted throughout the day in thinking, speaking and doing body conscious things that only bring me and others sorrow. That is not worthy behavior. “The activity and behavior of those who are firm yogis is very royal and good.“, explains Baba. “They speak very little. They are interested in serving the yagya. They want to sacrifice their bones in serving the yagya. However,” says Baba: “Stay in remembrance much longer. Through this you will develop love for the Father and experience happiness.” There will be many subjects, teaches Baba. But, He says, “you have come here to become king and queen. Those who make effort will claim a high status. The effort is to become worthy by remembering the Father accurately and imbibing the knowledge.“